Patents on the soles of your shoes...: USPTO

Sunday, February 26, 2017

USPTO – Patents for humanity 2016!

What’s more than a patent? A patent for humanity!

The USPTO Patents for Humanity program confers awards since 2013, when the program was launched. The winners obtain acceleration certificates for certain USPTO proceedings, and public recognition of their work. The winners are selected for the invention of “game-changing technology to meet humanitarian challenges” and for their vision in “pioneering innovative ways to provide affordable, scalable, and sustainable solutions for the less fortunate”.

In 2016, four awards and two honorable mentions were granted. The following is an extracted and further hyperlinked list of the recipients.

2016 awards winners

U.S. Food & Drug Administration - for developing an improved meningitis vaccine production process that’s been used to immunize 235 million people in high-risk Africa countries
Case Western Reserve University - for creating a low-cost, accurate malaria detection device using magnets and lasers that allows better diagnosis and treatments
GestVision, Inc - for developing a quick, simple diagnostic test for preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication, for use in developing regions.
Global Good Fund at Intellectual Ventures - for creating a passive cooler that can keep vaccines cold over 30 days and donating dozens of units to the fight against Ebola and other relief efforts.

Honorable Mentions

Alere Inc – for developing diagnostic assays for rapid and early HIV diagnosis at the point of care in low-resource settings
Sanofi – for researching new malaria drug candidates with shorter, simpler treatment regimens that can potentially counter the growing trend of drug resistance.